Any experiences? Seeking stories/advice/opinions.
I have two cats and go to a rather posh vet, which also has a boarding facility which I use a few times per year. The cats are now almost 10 and the vet informed me it’s way past time for a full exam, cleaning, and possible extractions while under anesthesia. They quoted me a price of between $1000 and $1500 per cat, and I’m slightly insulted by that.
In contrast, the discount vet down the street does that service for $89/cat, and when I asked the owner of the feline death rate while under the gas, she was taken aback and said she could count them all on one hand.
What benefits do you think my posh vet offers to justify the price, and what corners might the discount vet cut? (I do have an itemized estimate from the posh vet. I think they use a surgical team of experts flown in from all over.)
Two of my cats have been in for plaque & tartar scraping. It happened at a plain old vet’s in a modest town of the greater SFBA and cost several hundred dollars total for both cats, this was probably about eight years ago. Turned out that in addition to the planned work one cat also had a decayed tooth that needed to be pulled. Before they did the work they advised that a standard battery of blood tests be done on the cats to make sure that there were no problems which would put them at higher risk, as they were both about the age your cat is now. There were no problems with recovery other than cats being naturally peeved. One cat lived a further five years, the other reposes herself in Prince Charming’s lap at this very moment. The cats ate exclusively dry food if that makes any difference, and both were plain old DSH’s.
Our cats were on high-quality dry food only for a long time (and were perfectly healthy on it), and it’s just now that they’ve become senior cats that I’ve added wet food to their diet. They get their wet food at lunch, and I always make sure they have kibble to go with it to brush their teeth afterwards. As far as I know, our cats both have teeth that are just fine. We had Max in for a full check-up this spring, and the vet didn’t mention anything about teeth cleanings or extractions. I’d go for the $89 one if I went for any (but my attitude towards pets leans towards my farm-raised mom’s attitude).
Sorry, no experience with the OP’s situation. I saw the thread title, so I came in to say that The Other Shoe and I brush our own cats’ teeth. At least once a month, probably more often than that, and we really need to work up to doing it each weekend. I got some beef-flavored pet toothpaste (packaging says it’s for dogs) and they honestly don’t mind. In fact, the younger of the two, having grown up with it, not only doesn’t mind but will lick the toothpaste off your fingers with gusto. We just find 'em when they’re napping - being sleepy helps. Takes but a minute.
Judging by the vet’s double-take when I mentioned it, we are apparently in the minority. But then, our cats are easy-going. We also bathe them, clip their claws, and shave the older one* in the summertime, all ourselves.
I’m leery of full anaesthetic for non-crucial operations, but then again 1) dental health is closely linked to overall health, and 2) being able to “count on one hand” sounds like an OK place.
- he’s a Maine Coon, and it gets HOT here. Also, he sheds like a sumbitch in the spring. It’s easier to keep up with the fur tumbleweeds in the house if he’s shedding half-length fur. Alsoalso, he’s an older boy now, and keeping his fur trimmed back helps with, um, other personal hygeine issues. But in the winter we let him grow in his winter coat in all its lush, fluffy glory.
We’ve had our cats done, and while they were insured when we did it, the uninsured price was nowhere near what your vet is charging - IIRC, it was about $250 per cat. I wouldn’t pay $1000 for a dental cleaning. Even if they remove teeth it’s not that much.
Get an itemized list from the cheaper vet to see if they do the same things the expensive one does. Even if you’re not comfortable with the one that charges $89 for some reason, but want to get their teeth done, you can find a good vet to do it well below $100.
I’ve had two pets get dental work done. The first quote you got was more on target if an extraction is required. Just a cleaning requires knocking out the animal - there’s just no way it’s as cheap as $89/hour. Lenny’s cleaning was about $400, but that was an easy routine cleaning. My older cat who had to have three extractions was $835. My neighbor’s dog was a whopping $1,200.
Extractions can also be difficult, particularly if it’s the fang because it actually goes way back into the cat’s skull. They showed me one and that part of the fang that you see is only about 1/3 the length of the whole tooth. If the tooth comes out easy, there’s no problem. If it doesn’t they sometimes have to drill to get at it.
I don’t know what corners the discount net would be cutting, and I’m very sure the regular vet prices is way over inflated, but $89/hour is so cheap I’d be afraid of getting back a corpse.
From my experience, you have quoted two extremes. The cheaper vet is probably not doing blood work to determine if the cats are healthy enough for anesthesia, which would be included in the posh price. This is up to you whether or not you want to take the risk, personally I would not risk putting a cat of that age under without blood work first. Also, if there are extractions, they will probably charge you extra for each extraction. Find out what exactly the “cleaning” is. Each vet may be doing different procedures.
I suspect the cheaper vet is having a technician go in with a manual scaler and clean the teeth while the more expensive vet is using an ultrasonic scaler to remove the tartar. I also suspect the cheaper vet is not going to polish the teeth. Are x-rays included in the $89? I suspect they won’t be, but would be in the posh price. As Swallowed said, extractions can be difficult and require multiple x-rays to determine if the tooth has been fully removed.
Around here, cleanings for cats go for about $400. That includes anesthesia, descaling, blood work, polishing and X-rays. Extractions add around $20 per tooth, and would include any pain meds and antibiotics, if needed.
I think you may be able to find a middle ground that would satisfy your wallet and your cats health.
^ What she said. Also, one thing that discount places may skimp on is putting in an IV catheter and running fluids during anesthesia. Most cats are probably fine without, but if the crap hits the fan you want to have IV access already so you can give drugs and fluids to try to save the cat instead of scrambling to find a vein. Also, inhaled anesthetics seriously lower blood pressure, which makes it a lot harder to find a vein if something goes wrong and decreases perfusion to vital organs unless you do something, like give fluids, to counteract that. Just something to look for on the itemization of a bill. I agree that $1K sounds pretty high (although around here the bloodwork alone might be $200) but I would be a bit worried about standard of care (do they use anesthetic monitoring? do they use older, cheaper drugs or newer, safer drugs?) for the $89 fee.
I don’t get it… $89 seems to low to even cover anesthesia!
The $89 probably does not cover pre-op bloodwork, IV fluids, and in-house dental digital x-rays.
I’d agree, though, that the other end seems a bit high. I shadowed for a vet who did all the above and he still charged much less. Provided, of course, the cats didn’t need a root canal or tooth extraction.
Go search for another vet that would offer a middle of the road price for simple cleaning, barring extractions.
Minnie Luna’s post was excellent.
Also keep in mind these are estimates. If the expensive one takes x-rays and the teeth look great, and no extractions are needed (unlikely in 10 year old cats, btw), it might come out much cheaper.
I suspect the $89 doesn’t even include x-rays, but if it did and they found damage needing extractions, they may come back and ask for more money to complete them.
Another thing to keep in mind is your area’s cost of living. We can’t tell you if the $1K is really too high, but for the full workup and ~5 extractions (not unlikely) that sounds reasonable for my area. If you are in a super cheap area, that may be expensive. If you are in downtown Manhattan, that could be an incredible bargain.
As noted above, the $89 sounds like a tech with a scalar, the standard of feline dental care from decades ago, not including the dental x-rays and likely extractions that are the standard of today…
This is the web page from the poshest (not the only) feline-exclusive practice in Chicago. This details all the steps of a dental done there, this is a high standard of practice.
My guess is not 100% accurate but close, that the rates for this would vary from about $600 to $1,000 depending on how many extractions are needed.
At the feline shelter where I work, we occasionally do dentals for adopted cats if they have a particular health contract with us. We charge only the shelter’s cost to the adopters. I’ve never charged less than $150 - that’s our cost only. So I don’t know where such a low charge of $89 comes from. While we can and will do bloodwork and dental x-rays and plenty of analgesics including a fentanyl patch if called for, our standard of care isn’t as high as the posh hospital’s, plus our vet and assistants are paid less, of course.
I have a 9 year old and a 4 year old cat. The 9 year old (Maine Coon) hates vets and is a very difficult case. So I’m bringing him to a more posh vet who quoted me between $450 and $1,000…depending on whether they will need to extract teeth.
The 4 year old cat is very easy to handle, so I’m taking her to a cheap vet that quoted me a flat $122 for a teeth cleaning. I don’t think she will need an extraction at this age.
I’ll repost after I’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum.